If you are younger than sixty, the term POLIO maybe a new word to your vocabulary. ( For the young readers, that is not Ralph Lauren’s Polo clothing line ). In the 1940’s and 1950’s polio would paralyze or kill half-a-million people worldwide. In the early 1900’s placards were placed on homes where there were confirmed cases of polio. Families were quarantined and business’ were forced to close. Polio remained a mystery to the medical profession. ( By now you are aware of where I am going with this, but be patient the history lesson is short lived ). In 1952 Dr. Jonas Salk developed a vaccine, understandably named the Salk vaccine. In 1957 the Salk vaccine was administered throughout the United States for the prevention of polio. After a mass immunization polio was reduced from 58,000 cases to 5,600. Today polio is very rare in most countries.
In 1957 I vividly remember standing in line with my family at the national guard armory to receive a small cube of sugar infused with the Salk vaccine. In 2021′ as my wife and I sat in a long caravan of cars to receive the first Covid-19 vaccine, I was taken back to 1957′. It is easy to do the math, sixty-four years ago. Sitting in line I asked myself, ” Does history repeat itself”? My conclusion, ” Of course”. We will always have war, the wrath of mother-nature, or an epidemic that sweeps the world, but all three will happen. Not in my lifetime, but possibly yours two out of the three issues can be resolved in the interest of mankind and womankind.
Thank God for the wisdom granted to the medical and scientific community in developing the Covid-19 vaccines. Just like the cube of sugar, this too will become history.
Be safe.
Joe's Bakers Dozen 